Best Forum to hear experienced audiophiles exchange thoughts?

People with experience and knowledge tend to write in a way that exhibits that. I've started many threads here, and when my OP was carefully worded, the responses would typically lead to a coherent and informative exchange of views. This does not always happen but it frequently does. Check my threads to see what I mean.

The other thing an OP can do is to steer conversations back on track by restating the question or by summarizing what's been said that answers it. 

In other words, a good thread takes work and some minding by the OP. When people throw a vague question out there and then find they're in the middle of a food fight, that's not totally their fault but there's some need for additional due diligence.

i just don't believe at that site , too many paid faker

If you want to talk about mostly HE and New gear, I would suggest AudioShark.org run by the owner of Suncoast Audio in Sarasota.

Audio forums can be tough on several fronts. There’s all the usual conflicts of humans discussing something. Audio topics are especially subjective, and very personal. There are many different views and variables going on, and some people see only one possible way for something to be acceptable....their way. If you’re happy with your system, you’ve succeeded in audio, but there will always be someone who thinks maybe you’re really not happy, or shouldn’t be happy.

Add to the human and preference differences the fact that we’re at different places in our audio journey. I’ve enjoyed every system I ever had for some reason or another, even though they weren’t as good as what I have now. Some people buy a system, like it, and enjoy it for as long as the components keep working. Other’s are prone to swapping and moving on to the next best thing. So it’s possible to be "into audio" for 25 years, yet do very little experimentation, where much of the learning comes from.

There’s also a strong emotional element that influences our opinions. If you associate a particular piece or a system with positive experiences, you’ll have fond memories of it even if there’s nothing special sonically to justify the emotion. We’re human.

It’s simply very difficult to gauge where someone is on their journey, or to explain in objective terms what you’re subjectively hearing...I suspect that’s one of the reasons people lean on measurements, which brings us back to the many variables and perspective involved in audio.

I wish I had a good answer about where best to discuss audio with an experienced crowd.  It can be a moving target and is something that we sort of each need to define and discover on our own.  Any forum is only as good as the current discussion, and the particular folks influencing the discussion...and that is another variable that's not even necessarily audio related.

I think many members have described well the things that makes this site a good community, as frustrating as it can be when some of the (typically) regulars who’re b***h**es feel compelled to interject their own brand of insanity or somehow derail what started out as a productive thread. Unfortunately, some folks around here are so easily offended by the ding a lings that they let them drive them away.

My two cents is: sometimes you gotta have some thick skin around here, but so what.

Especially in this crazy mixed up world we’re living, in these days you have to be good at weeding out the BS to maintain your sanity. But again, so what. I read in a post one time years ago an analogy about how not only does it tend too be kind of clique-ish around here, the character types tend to be real similar to the types I remember from junior high and especially high school. Back in the day, anyway. I’m sure I’m not as old as some of you guys, but I’m definitely talking about back in the day. I can only imagine what kind of freakshow I just described going on presently.

I, personally, (oh my gosh, should I really say iy like this, because it may open the door for someone to turn this into a political rant) am a big believer in free speech and understand the value of hearing everyone’s option ... even the d**kh***s. After all, it’s a personal choice to let those idiots into my head(space). great pun. A dear friend of mine taught me he concept many years ago of giving someone free rent in my head. I guess when you get that piece it’s a lot easier to put up with the nonsense.

Anyway, like others have said, you kind of have to take the good along with the bad around here. But overall it’s a great community.

@hilde45 offers some good counsel on how to produce a good solid thread. But, yeah, it takes a little work to maintain it once you get it going. I was a lurker for many years before I even stepped up and responded. And I would imagine some of the nonsense prevents some from ever wanting to post. That’s OK. I learned a lot from just reading all those years.

I'm convinced that if you don't cop to the idea that boutique cables, esp the seriously expensive ones (ie: Nordost), can (but not always, I guess is the way I'd say it) make a subtle but huge difference, then it means you either don't have synergy in your system or you haven't spent enough on your toys to realize the benefit. But, again, that's my own take on the situation.

@jpwarren58 I think this statement is kind of an instant classic:

"money and (expensive) toys and egos seldom make a good omelette."

Lol, I mean, come on isn’t it true? ha ha ha ha

P.S. people like @jasonbourne52 , who obviously don't get it (lol) even add to the atmosphere around here. You just have to be lighthearted and let everyone have their own take on things.